Pages

Friday, March 09, 2007

Australia's Aborigines - another demographic note

In my last post I referred to the PriceWaterhouseCoopersreport into the Aboriginal Community Housing and Infrastructure Program (CHIP). An appendix in the report provides some basis statistical data by state drawn from the 2001 census. I have repeated this below.

There may be some problems with the data. The indigenous population figure given for NSW, 119,835, is much lower than the NSW Government estimate - 134,888 - also based on 2001 census data. I will have to check the data against the original ABS figures. That said, the state figures reveal some interesting variations.

I have summarised this in the following lists. The full source data is at the end of the post.

Total Numbers

Total indigenous numbers by state are:

NSW 119,835

Queensland 112,777

WA 58,496

NT 50,790

Victoria 25,090

SA 23,410

Tasmania 15,780

I have already commented on the discrepancy in NSW numbers. Even given the lower NSW numbers, NSW and Queensland have around 57 per cent of Australia's total indigenous population.

As an aside, total indigenous numbers living within the traditional New England New State boundaries were probably of the order of 50,000 in 2001, equivalent to the NT number.

Aborigines Living in Remote Areas

Another way of looking at the numbers is by remoteness, since this is important in determining service needs. Here a different picture emerges:

Indigenous people classified as living in remote areas by state:

NT 41,204

Queensland 26,397

WA 26,210

NSW 7,311

SA 5,172

Tasmania 537

Victoria 57

Looking at these numbers, I was surprised at the PWC recommendation that all of NSW should be excluded from the proposed new housing and infrastructure program targeting remote Aborigines.

Home Ownership

The statistics paint an interesting picture of the variations in Aboriginal home ownership - a traditional Australian measure of wealth - across Australia. To calculate this, I have expressed home ownership - outright and with mortgage - as a percentage of Aboriginal households.

Tasmania 59 per cent

Victoria 42 per cent

NSW 36 per cent

SA 29 per cent

Queensland 28 per cent

WA 27 per cent

NT 14 per cent

While even Tasmania is below the national average, I think that this is around 70 per cent, these numbers were actually more than I had expected for the top ownership states. There is a clear negative correlation between rates of home ownership and the proportion of indigenous people living on communal lands.

Private Rental and Private Ownership

Another interesting measure is the proportion of households living in private rental accommodation since this is another proxy for integration into the broader community. Here we find:

Queensland 31 per cent

NSW 26 per cent

Victoria 25 per cent

Tasmania 21 per cent

South Australia 18 per cent

WA 17 per cent

NT 2 per cent

What we need to do now is to combine home ownership with private rental since this gives us a better proxy still for integration. The remainder of the population live in both public (generally available social housing) and Aboriginal specific social housing.

Here we find:

Tasmania 80 per cent

Victoria 67 per cent

NSW 62 per cent

Queensland 59 per cent

SA 47 per cent

WA 44 per cent

NT 16 per cent

Now I would be the first to agree that these figures are far from perfect, but what we can say is that a clear majority of Australia's indigenous people live in homes that they either own or are renting privately. This is not the picture as normally presented.

Indigenous People living in Indigenous Housing

The last statistic I want to present is the proportion of indigenous households living in indigenous community housing, ranked from highest to lowest:

NT 46 per cent

Queensland 14 per cent

WA 14 per cent

NSW 7 per cent

Victoria 3 per cent

Tasmania 1 per cent

This is the proportion of the indigenous population that attracts the greatest attention and really drives the policy debate.

Source Data

NSW

Total indigenous population 119,835

Indigenous people in remote areas 7,311

Total indigenous households 37,598

Indigenous dwellings in community housing 2,725

Indigenous dwellings owned outright 6,021

Mortgaged indigenous dwellings 7,490

Privately rented indigenous dwellings 9,828

Publicly rented indigenous dwellings 8,146

Queensland

Total indigenous population 112,777

Indigenous people in remote areas 26,397

Total indigenous households 31,336

Indigenous dwellings in community housing 4,271

Indigenous dwellings owned outright 3,434

Mortgaged indigenous dwellings 5,464

Privately rented indigenous dwellings 9,638

Publicly rented indigenous dwellings 5,058

Western Australia

Total indigenous population 58,496

Indigenous people in remote areas 26,210

Total indigenous households 14,471

Indigenous dwellings in community housing 2,069

Indigenous dwellings owned outright 1,091

Mortgaged indigenous dwellings 2,752

Privately rented indigenous dwellings 2,445

Publicly rented indigenous dwellings 4,288

Northern Territory

Total indigenous population 50,790

Indigenous people in remote areas 41,204

Total indigenous households 9,748

Indigenous dwellings in community housing 4,434

Indigenous dwellings owned outright 380

Mortgaged indigenous dwellings 953

Privately rented indigenous dwellings 847

Publicly rented indigenous dwellings 1,414

Victoria

Total indigenous population 25,090

Indigenous people in remote areas 57Total indigenous households 8,359

Indigenous dwellings in community housing 276

Indigenous dwellings owned outright 1,407

Mortgaged indigenous dwellings 2,142

Privately rented indigenous dwellings 2,068

Publicly rented indigenous dwellings 1,665

South Australia

Total indigenous population 23,410

Indigenous people in remote areas 5,172

Total indigenous households 6,698

Indigenous dwellings in community housing 738

Indigenous dwellings owned outright 684

Mortgaged indigenous dwellings 1,261

Privately rented indigenous dwellings 1,178

Publicly rented indigenous dwellings 2,156

Tasmania

Total indigenous population 15,780Indigenous people in remote areas 537

No comments:

Keep Belshaw writing!

Writing takes time and money. Contributions welcome to help me maintain an independent voice.

Welcome

Welcome to the sometimes confused meanderings of a busy personal and professional life.

This, my strictly personal blog, is one of a suite of blogs and web sites exploring different aspects of my personal and professional life. You will find the list on the side bar under Belshaw blogs. Please explore.

My blogs are all open blogs. I welcome civilised discussion. I can be contacted via ndarala(at)optusnet(dot)com(dot)au.